Calif. deputies shoot, kill 13-year-old boy
Associated Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif.
Police in California say a 13-year-old boy who was killed by deputy sheriffs raised a pellet gun that looked like a high-powered rifle before sheriff’s deputies opened fire.
Santa Rosa police said Wednesday that the deputies were on patrol Tuesday when they spotted the boy with the gun and repeatedly asked him to lower it. Instead, he raised it in their direction.
After shooting the teen, the Sonoma County deputies found that the gun was a replica that looked similar to a real AK-47 assault rifle.
The boy fell to the ground on top of the rifle, said sheriff’s Lt. Dennis O’Leary. He said the deputies ordered the boy to move away before approaching him and putting him in handcuffs.
They began administering first aid and called for paramedics, who pronounced him dead at the scene.
The boy, Andy Lopez, is described as a popular eighth-grade student who played trumpet in his school band.
Some residents of Santa Rosa, about 50 miles northwest of San Francisco, wonder whether the deputies acted appropriately when they decided to fire on such a young person.
Sheriff Steve Freitas said in a statement that the shooting was a “tragedy.”
Community members left candles, teddy bears and flowers at the edge of the field where the teen was shot and questioned deputies’ decision to open fire.